Adjustable air distributor



0. A. LABUS ADJUSTABLE AIR DISTRIBUTOR Dec. 16, 1952 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1Filed Aug. 13, 1949 S m m MW N m n m .m m r T 0 m V. .B 4

Dec. 16, 1952 A, L 2,621,578

' ADJUSTABLE AIR DISTRIBUTOR Filed Aug. 13, 1949 I 2. SHEETS-SHEET 2 INVEN TOR. no A. LABUS Y B r- W ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 16, 1952 UNITEDSTATES TENT OFFICE ADJUST-ABLE AIR DISTRIBUTOR Otto A. Labus, La Crosse,Wis., assignor to The Trans Company, La Crosse, Wis.

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a distributor for a stream of moving .air orgas, and it is particularly adapted for mounting on a unit heater or ona duct outlet from which conditioned air or gas is flowing.

An object of the invention is to provide a distributor which may beadjusted to vary the amount of deflection of an air or gas stream.

Another object of the invention is to provide a distributor which may beadjusted to give different angles of deflection of the air or gas atdifferent points around the axis of the air or gas stream and thuscontrol the cross-sectional shape of the discharged stream.

Another object of the invention is to provide a distributor which isparticularly adapted for use in a fluid stream flowing from a propellerfan, because it changes the normal spiral movement of the stream into asubstantially straight line flow and in this way increases the distancethat the fan throws the fluid.

Another object of the invention is to provide a distributor which hastwo series of air deflecting members substantially coextensive with eachother in the air stream and arranged to simultaneously guide the airwith respect to each of two planes which are at substantially rightangles to each other and which extend generally longitudinally of theair stream.

Another object of the invention is to provide one unitary assembly forguiding the air with respect to one plane and another unitary assemblyfor guiding the air with respect to another plane and means for mountingeach assembly alone or .in combination on an air outlet.

Another object of the invention is to provide a distributor which issimple and inexpensive to manufacture and which satisfies all therequirements of good air distribution.

Further objects of the invention will become apparent from the followingspecification taken in connection with the drawings which form a part ofthis application, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of the distributor of the present invention shownin position on a unit he er;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a side view of the vertical vane assembly; 4

Fig. 4 is a side view of the horizontal vane assembly attached to a unitheater;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is perspective view of a vertical vane assembly;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged side view of the vertical vane assembly of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is side view of a modification of the invention in which thevertical vanes are attached directly to the horizontal vanes; and

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the modification of Fig. 8.

Referring now to the drawings, the distributor of the present inventionis shown attached to a unit heater indicated generally by the numeralI0, in which is mounted a heat exchange unit not shown. A fan, notshown, propels air through the unit heater iii and the heat exchangermounted therein. A front plate i2 having a quadrangular openingsurrounded by a flange it is secured to the unit heater by four screws16. A plurality of horizontal vanes is are positioned in the opening inthe front plate !2 and secured by screws 26 to the flange it whichsurrounds or defines the opening in the front plate l2. The

horizontal vanes H3 have a downwardly extending flange 22 at each end,and the flanges each have a hole therein for receiving the screws 20.The screws 20 hold the flanges 22 in frictional engagement with theflange i4 so that the vanes can be pivotally adjusted about the screws20 as pivots, but the friction is suificient to prevent unintendedmovement of the vanes. The vanes 18 are substantially flat, but they areshown as having a very slight curvature primarily for the sake ofappearance.

Vanes similar to the vanes iii are old in the prior art for directingthe flow of a stream in one plane. .Such vanes alone do not completelycontrol the movement of the air, because the direction of flow parallelto the vanes is not controlled and spiral flow of the air dischargedfrom a propeller fan is not effectively straightened. In order toprovide a distributor which will have the highly desirable functionsdescribed above, I provide a combination of coextensive horizontal andvertical vanes which simultaneously operate upon the air stream at thesame point in its path of movement.

A plurality of vertical vanes 24 are positioned in the opening definedby the flange M of the front plate l2. These vertical vanes 24 extendacross the spaces between the horizontal vanes l3. The vanes 24 are heldin a unitary assembly as shown in Fig. 3. A quadrangular frame 26 whichsupports the vanes 24 is constructed and arranged to fit into theopening in the front plate l2 defined by the flange l4. Each side offrame 26 has flanges 28 and 3!]. Vane supporting bars 32 are secured tothe flanges 28 and 30 by rivets 3| as shown in Fig. 3. The vanesupporting bars 32 are frictionally held by the rivets 3| to the flanges28 and 30 to permit pivotal adjustment of the supporting bars 28 but toprevent unintended movement thereof. A plurality of vanes 24 arepivotally attached to the vane supporting bars 32 by rivets 34 as shownin Fig. 6. The rivets 34 hold the vanes 24 in frictional engagement withthe supporting bars 32 to permit adjustment and prevent unintendedmovement of the vanes 24. The frame 26 has a bottom flange 36 which hastwo pins 38. The bottom portion of the flange I4 has two holes 40, shownin Fig. 4, each receiving one of the pins 38 to hold the bottom portionof the assembly of Fig. 3 in position on the front plate I2. The upperportion of the vane assembly of Fig. 3 is fastened to the front plate l2by removing the screw 20 which holds the uppermost horizontal vane IS inposition. The flange 28 is then held with its hole in register with thehole in the vane I8 and the screw 20 is again threaded into the flangeI4 to hold the upper portion of the vane assembly of Fig. 3 securely inposition on the front plate l2. In the above described manner a verticalvane as-, sembly may be very easily fastened to an existing unit havingonly the horizontal vanes 18.

Figs. 8 and 9 show a modification of my invention, in which the verticalvanes 42 are riveted to the horizontal vanes 44. The horizontal vanes 44of this modification are similar to the horizontal vanes of theembodiment of the invention shown in Figs. l-7 except that they have aplurality of holes for receiving rivets 46 which also extend throughholes in the vertical vanes 42 to irictionally hold the vertical vanesagainst unintended movement, but at the same time permitting pivotaladjustment. The horizontal vanes 44 have apertured flanges 48 whichreceive screws 20 to secure the vanes in frictional engagement with theflange M of the front plate I2. The vertical vanes 42 have upper edges50 which conform to the contour of the horizontal vane 44 and lieclosely adjacent to the under surface of the horizontal vane. The loweredge has a substantially horizontal portion, but the lower inner corneris cut away at an angle to prevent interierence with the next adjacentvane 44 when the vanes are in downwardly adjusted position.

As described above, the distributor of my invention has individuallypivotally adjustable horizontal and vertical vanes arrangedcoextensively in the air stream to simultaneously deflect the air inplanes at substantially right angles to each other. Such an arrangementis a decided improvement over two series of vanes which act separatelyat different points in the air stream, because the coextensive vanescooperate with each other to provide a multiplicity of conduits whichaccurately direct each portion of the stream in the desired direction.The co-extensive vanes of the present invention also offer lessresistance to air flow and occupy less space than the distributors ofthe prior art which have two series of vanes spaced at different pointsin the general direction of flow.

The terms horizontaland vertical have been used to refer to the vanes l8and 24 respectively. It should be understood, however, that these termshave been used merely to indicate the inclination of the vanes withrespect to each other and that the distributor may be mounted at variousinclinations in which the vanes I8 and 24 are not horizontal andvertical respectively.

Although I have described specifically the preferred embodiments of myinvention, I contemplate that many changes may be made without departingfrom the scope or spirit of my invention, and I desire to be limitedonly by the claims.

I claim:

1. A distributor for directing the flow of an air stream flowing from anoutlet comprising a frame, a plurality of first air turning vanespivotally supported by said frame about substantially parallel axeslying substantially in a single plane and a plurality of secondairturning vanes, means pivotally supporting said second air turningvanes with respect to said frame about axes substantially parallel tothe axes about which said first vanes pivot, and means supporting saidsecond air turning vanes for p l adjustment about axes substantiallyperpendicular to their first pivotal axes.

2. A distributor for directing the flow of an air stream comprising afirst frame, a plurality of first substantially planar air turningvanes, means spacedly mounting said first air turning vanes for pivotaladjustment on said first frame about spaced parallel axes, a secondframe secured to said first frame, a plurality of support members. meanspivotally adjustably mounting said support members on said second frameabout axes which are substantially parallel to the pivotal axes of saidfirst air turning vanes, a plurality of second substantially planar airturning vanes, means pivotally adjustably mounting said second airturning vanes on said support members about axes which are substantiallyperpendicular to the pivotal axes of'said support members, the planes ofsaid second air turning vanes intersecting the planes of said first airturning vanes and the first and second air turning vanes beingconstructed and arranged to be substantially coextensive along theintersection of their planes.

OTTO A. LABUS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,299,659 Barrs Apr. 8, 19191,554,914 Guthier Sept. 22, 1925 1,850,822 Young Mar. 22, 1932 2,034,231Fox Mar. 17, 1936 2,135,810 Germonprez Nov. 8, 1938 2,285,984 KietzmannJune 9, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 7 100,536 Sweden Dec.23,1940

